Facilitating the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry
The June 2014 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. The June issue includes articles on using the senses and esters to teach chemistry, developing student-centered activities, introducing the periodic table with puzzles, teaching visual literacy, and exploring thermochromic materials.
Using the Senses and Esters to Teach Chemistry
In the cover article Esterification Reaction Utilizing Sense of Smell and Eyesight for Conversion and Catalyst Recovery Monitoring, Nikki Janssens, Lik H. Wee, and Johan A. Martens describe a simple reaction for demonstrating the use of a homogeneous catalyst in an esterification reaction and observing the catalytic process by two human senses, sight and smell.
Qing Ji, Nadia S. El-Hamdi, and Ognjen Š. Miljanić also use esters in clever combinations to make scent transmutations in order to teach the concepts of chemical equilibrium, distillation, transesterification, dynamic combinatorial chemistry, and the industrially relevant process of reactive distillation
Editorial
In “This IS NOT Acceptable”, Norbert Pienta (Editor-in-Chief) discusses the appropriateness of student concerns about testing and assessment and of some of the traditions in large-enrollment courses in chemistry education. Deanna Cullen responded to this editorial in her blog post Making the Grade.
Chemical Education Research
Applying the Multilevel Framework of Discourse Comprehension To Evaluate the Text Characteristics of General Chemistry Textbooks by Daniel T. Pyburn and Samuel Pazicni
Role of Teacher-Initiated Discourses in Students’ Development of Representational Fluency in Chemistry: A Case Study by Abdi-Rizak M. Warfa, Gillian H. Roehrig, Jamie L. Schneider, and James Nyachwaya
Examining Evidence for External and Consequential Validity of the First Term General Chemistry Exam from the ACS Examinations Institute by Scott E. Lewis
Covalent Bond Classification Method
Application of the Covalent Bond Classification Method for the Teaching of Inorganic Chemistry by Malcolm L. H. Green and Gerard Parkin
Student-Centered Activities
Sticky Ions: A Student-Centered Activity Using Magnetic Models to Explore the Dissolving of Ionic Compounds by Sheila Ryan and Deborah G. Herrington
Using Computational Chemistry Activities To Promote Learning and Retention in a Secondary School General Chemistry Setting by Joseph W. Ochterski
Using a Problem Solving-Cooperative Learning Approach To Improve Students’ Skills for Interpreting 1H NMR Spectra of Unknown Compounds in an Organic Spectroscopy Course by Rihab F. Angawi
Puzzles and Games to Introduce the Periodic Table
An Effective Method of Introducing the Periodic Table as a Crossword Puzzle at the High School Level by Sushama D. Joag
ChemMend: A Card Game To Introduce and Explore the Periodic Table while Engaging Students’ Interest by Vicente Martí-Centelles and Jenifer Rubio-Magnieto
Cheminoes: A Didactic Game To Learn Chemical Relationships between Valence, Atomic Number, and Symbol by Luis F. Moreno, Gina Hincapié, and María Victoria Alzate
Physical Chemistry
Thermodynamics
Entropy of Mixing of Distinguishable Particles by Evguenii I. Kozliak
Spontaneity and Equilibrium II: Multireaction Systems by Lionel M. Raff
Use of JANAF Tables in Equilibrium Calculations and Partition Function Calculations for an Undergraduate Physical Chemistry Course by David A. Cleary
Quantum Mechanics
Using a Spreadsheet To Solve the Schrödinger Equations for the Energies of the Ground Electronic State and the Two Lowest Excited States of H2 by Yingbin Ge, Robert C. Rittenhouse, Jacob C. Buchanan, and Benjamin Livingston
Phase Diagrams
Binary Solid–Liquid Phase Diagram of Phenol and t-Butanol: An Undergraduate Physical Chemistry Experiment by Xinhua Xu, Xiaogang Wang, and Meifen Wu
Deconstructing Phase Diagram Calculations by Pierre Tomasini
Analytical Chemistry in the Laboratory
Determination of Ethanol in Gasoline by FT-IR Spectroscopy by Alfred Conklin, Jr., Michael J. Goldcamp, and Jacob Barrett
Development of a Handmade Conductivity Measurement Apparatus and Application to Vegetables and Fruits by Seng Set and Masakazu Kita
Volumetric Titrations Using Electrolytically Generated Reagents for the Determination of Ascorbic Acid and Iron in Dietary Supplement Tablets: An Undergraduate Laboratory Experiment by Christopher Scanlon, Zewdu Gebeyehu, Kameron Griffin, and Rajeev B. Dabke
A Comprehensive Microfluidics Device Construction and Characterization Module for the Advanced Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Laboratory by Paul A. E. Piunno, Adrian Zetina, Norman Chu, Anthony J. Tavares, M. Omair Noor, Eleonora Petryayeva, Uvaraj Uddayasankar, and Andrew Veglio
Dark Field Microscopy for Analytical Laboratory Courses by Ashley E. Augspurger, Anthony S. Stender, Kyle Marchuk, Thomas J. Greenbowe, and Ning Fang
Determination of log Kow Values for Four Drugs by Mark F. Harris and Jennifer L. Logan
Photochemistry
Photochemistry of Naphthopyrans and Derivatives: A Computational Experiment for Upper-Level Undergraduates or Graduate Students by Frédéric Castet, Raphaël Méreau, and Daniel Liotard
Bringing Photochemistry to the Masses: A Simple, Effective, and Inexpensive Photoreactor, Right Out of the Box by Theint Aung and Charles A. Liberko
Visual Literacy
Results of a National Survey of Biochemistry Instructors To Determine the Prevalence and Types of Representations Used during Instruction and Assessment by Kimberly J. Linenberger and Thomas A. Holme
An Integrated Visualization and Basic Molecular Modeling Laboratory for First-Year Undergraduate Medicinal Chemistry by Joseph M. Hayes
Use of iSpartan in Teaching Organic Spectroscopy by Andrew G. Karatjas
From the Archives: Exploring Thermochromic Materials
This issue contains two articles that explore thermochromic materials:
Microwave Mapping Demonstration Using the Thermochromic Cobalt Chloride Equilibrium by Vu D. Nguyen and Kurt R. Birdwhistell
Exploration of Thermochromic Materials Using Experimental and Theoretical Infrared and UV–Visible Spectroscopy by Kelsey Costello, Kevin Thinh Doan, Kari Lynn Organtini, John Wilson, Morgan Boyer, Greglynn Gibbs, and Lorena Tribe.
The thermochromism of cobalt chloride can be further studied using a CD-ROM Spectroscope: A Simple and Inexpensive Tool for Classroom Demonstrations on Chemical Spectroscopy as described by Fumitaka Wakabayashi, Kiyohito Hamada, and Kozo Sone.
Other articles exploring thermochromic commercial materials in past issues include:
Demonstration of Thermodynamics and Kinetics Using FriXion Erasable Pens by Dean J. Campbell, Wayne B. Bosma, Stephen J. Bannon, Molly M. Gunter, and Margaret K. Hammar
Intelligent Thermochromic Windows by Ivan P. Parkin and Troy D. Manning
Thermochromism in Commercial Products by Mary Anne White and Monique LeBlanc
With over 1000 Issues of JCE Available, There’s Always More to Explore
You will find all of the articles mentioned above, and many more, in the Journal of Chemical Education. Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable) are also available.
The January 2014 issue will be available as a sample issue for the entire year. If you like what you read, subscribe! If you have something to share, write it up!